Read the following poem. Answer the question that follow:
At the Museum
But in 2500 B.C. Harappa,
who cast in bronze a servant girl?
No one keeps records
of soldiers and slaves,
The sculptor knew this,
polishing the ache
off her fingers stiff
from washing the walls
and scrubbing the floors,
from stirring the meat
and the crushed asafoetida
in the bitter gourd.
But I'm grateful she smiled
at the sculptor,
as she smiles at me
in bronze,
a child who had to play women
to her lord
when the warm June rains
came to Harappa.
What were the kinds of work the servant girl had to do during her time? Choose the incorrect option.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → sowing grains in the soil
The poem describes the girl's fingers as stiff "from washing the walls", "scrubbing the floors" and "stirring the meat and the crushed asafoetida in the bitter gourd". All her work is inside the house; sowing grains in the soil is field work and is never mentioned, so it is the incorrect option the question asks for.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Stirring the meat and the crushed asafoetida in the bitter gourd. — Incorrect. True in the passage: this kitchen task is named in the poem, so it is not the incorrect option.
Option 3: Washing the walls — Incorrect. True in the passage: the poem names it as one cause of her stiff fingers.
Option 4: scrubbing the floors — Incorrect. True in the passage: this too is one of her tasks in the poem.